"We have been trying to provide added amenities to railway passengers for the past few years. It is in this regard that we introduced e-ticketing and ATM kiosks at various stations. The latest was to offer the unified 139 inquiry service through which passengers could get the latest updates on reservation and even book hotels. This project is a continuation of this dedicated Rail Sampark Call Centre services," said a senior IRCTC official.

According to initial plans, the Railways has applied for a dedicated three digit number from the department of Telecommunication. "This number can be used all through the country and will not need a STD code. Once the passenger calls this number, our call centre executives will book an available ticket for him and also arrange for its delivery," added the official. Incidentally, the Rail Sampark Call Centre is one of the biggest call centre facility which can handle up to 2 million calls a day.

The official maintained that the biggest stumbling block in the project remains the mode of payment. "We may initially ask the passengers to pay for the ticket through the railway cash card launched in association with a nationalised bank a few years ago. However, we plan to extend the service to all credit cards once the project kicks off," he said.

Senior Railway officials said such a step will be a major boost for decongesting ticket counters. "Ticket counters of major stations like New Delhi are always crowded. Such a step, thus, will help from the security angle too," said a senior northern Railway official.

Passengers too welcomed the move, but remained sceptical whether railways can deliver the tickets on time. "This will certainly help common passengers as they simply need a telephone instead of a computer to book a ticket. But, we will have to wait and see whether they can deliver the tickets on time," said Prashant Bhatia, a PR executive.